When it comes to running, I can’t say I enjoy it yet. However, I can say that sometimes it’s the only thing between me and a bottle of Jack. I’ve gotten to the point in my runs, where I can get into a grove. Ok, on most runs I can get into a grove. After the Miracle Miles 4 Kids, I just kept going. I still needed my “graduation” 5k for the Couch to 5k program and I’m running at the Arroyo Grande Strawberry Festival this upcoming weekend. My goal has been to still run 3x per week for 3 miles, but I’m only averaging 2 runs per week. As many have commented on my Facebook posts, at least I’m out there. Some highs: I completed my longest run yet at 4 miles back on May 6th. It felt great. I was surprised I was able to do it and more shocked that it wasn’t as hard as I thought. But then there’s the lows. I had my worst run since starting the program just one week later. I couldn’t complete the 3 miles, not only stopping to walk, but just plain unable to finish. It wasn’t due to an injury or muscles, just a will. I’m still excited about running, but need to think of a new goal after the 5k this weekend.

I can’t say I’ve posted to much about my being a Lakers fan, but if you’re reading my blog, you probably already know that. What you didn’t know, is in that I became a fan when I was 8 years old… Magic Johnson’s rookie year. Yes, I’m a true fan… I was a fan even during the brutal years of Van Exel and Divac. But it does make it easy to be a fan when in those years they’ve won 9 championships! However, with as much as I’ve loved the Lakers over the years, I’ve never been to a game. That changed thanks to a vendor at work.

I was in LA for the 2nd game of the Suns v. Lakers last Wednesday. As you can imagine, it was awesome. Not sure how to put it all into words, but it was great. The seats were amazing, the game was incredible, and getting to take time off from work was just icing on the cake. I can say though that I would never fork over the cash for those types of seats. Even where we sat, the game is more viewable on my TV. Don’t get me wrong… If you offered me tickets to see another game, I’m there… I just won’t pay for it myself. I did have to go with my boss, which made it interesting since he isn’t a Lakers fan, but even that was good.

So yeah, work. Blogging about work has always been pretty much off limits. For one thing, people whom are mentioned, even if not by name, may read it. I’m emotional and don’t always have nice things to say. Secondly, future employers may read it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put my name into Google and stumble upon this blog. And finally, we all have jobs, and most of the time, we’re not happy about them, so who wants to read another complaint about work. Heck, if you’re out of work when you read this, then maybe you say to yourself I should appreciate what I have. Which, is true.

This past month though has been a struggle. I’ve been challenged and pushed and didn’t always come out of it the way I wanted. I spent many days agitated and frustrated about what I had to do, often just to appease someone. In the end, everything worked out the way I thought it would, but getting there meant a return to 60+ hour weeks. Looking behind me now, I can be happy I’m done. I know I did a good job and I even learned a few things about myself. There’s some more challenges to come, but, hopefully, I can take some of these lessons and make the journey a little nicer.

Heather’s computer was next. As far as I know, there’s been no major issues. It works as advertised. She’s only been on it a day, so I can’t say if she’s experienced any great feature or exciting speed increase, but now comes the reason for the lovely kitty in the corner.

Tonight I upgraded the family iMac. The install went fine and all proceeded normally. I downloaded updates, reinstalled a few programs… all looked good… until I noticed Connect360 couldn’t find my iTunes library. PANIC! Um, I have like 10 years of MP3′s amounting to about 70GB of music and audiobooks. I double clicked the Media link on my desktop and Mac said “No no… Can’t be found” OH CRAP… Media not only contained my audio, but video as well.

So what happened? I spent a couple of hours searching the interwebs for an answer and as much as I can figure, during the install, the /Volumes directory is wiped. Yep, I had the Media directory in the /Volumes folder. Media used to be an external drive, but when I didn’t need it any more, so I moved the contents and created a directory in /Volumes. It was probably a bad idea. Actually, it turned out to be a horrible idea.

The moral to the story? While Mac OS X is very powerful and you can do some pretty incredible stuff, don’t stray too far from the accepted Apple way of things or POOF. I don’t know yet what I’m going to do, but at least let my loss be a warning.

A follow-up to my post, I found a older external drive that had a backup from April of our music, and with Apple’s help have completely restored the iTunes library. Now, if I can just figure out all the kernel panics I might just be happy with Snow Leopard.

I’ve noticed on Google Analytics reports that I get anywhere from 10-20 hits per day for a video I haven’t hosted in more than 3 years. Crazy. Whether it was seeing the report again, or imaginging the frustrated people who follow a link to this site only to see the dreaded 404, I found my original video, created an account and uploaded it. Call it giving back.

I also added a video from 2004 (forever ago, I know) because I wanted something more on the OnePain.c0m page. It’s a video I did after one of the quarterly LAN parties. It’s not the great, but now someone other than me can see it. I suppose that’s what it’s all about.

If Counter-Strike, before it went source, or Side Arm Launched gliders are your thing, then check out the videos, if not, don’t. Either way, they’re out there.

And if you have an opinion on joining the masses on Facebook/MySpace/Twitter, leave a comment. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the person that changes my mind.